Responsibility v.s Accountability

This post is not really a long story, just a simple thing to be shared. I got this topic during my last Advanced Building Construction class. My lecturer had explained the differences between these two words. Responsibility and Accountability. I never think about it or even I never care to know at once.

Saya rojak la ek.. English sikit, melayu sikit. Bukan apa, asyik guna English saja di UIA ni. Takut lama-lama Bahasa Melayu lupa pulak. Lagi pun saya ni bangsa Melayu.

First of all, apa yang anda faham tentang responsibility? A person is said to be responsible when he did his work accordingly. He ensures all the works given been done without missed once, although it is not perfect, he had tried to do it. Anda setuju ke statement saya ni? For instance, a leader of a society. Let say, Quantity Surveying Student Society, QUEST. Saya ambil contoh department saya ek. The leader is responsible when he did or acts like what he should. Let say, during his tenure, he had arranged a good organization structures. Tetapi, disebabkan masa yang tidak ‘well managed’, dia tak sempat nak implement what he had arranged. Annual General Meeting menunjukkan yang position dia disandang oleh orang lain. Dia pun lepaskan jawatan sebagai President dan serahkan kepada new leader without informing him what he had arranged before. He is said to be RESPONSIBLE sebab dia sudah laksanakan tanggungjawabnya sebagai ketua ketika sesinya. Dia telah merancang sesuatu yang bagus untuk kebaikan persatuannya. However, he is not accountable.



Are you following me? Anda faham setakat ini? Setuju? Now, we move to the next stage.
Accountability. Sebenarnya accountability ini Cuma berbeza sedikit sahaja dari responsibility. Tetapi perbezaan yang kecil ini membawa makna yang sangat besar.

We take the same example. The same leader, after he left his position, he keeps going on his idea about the new organization structure. He will inform the new leader about his idea and encourage him to implement it. Ini kerana kerja-kerja yang dia buat selama tempoh jawatannya sebagai ketua adalah untuk kebaikan society itu. Bukan kerana sekadar dia ketua, so dia nak buat la sesuatu during his tempoh kuasanya agar dikatakan dia ketua yang buat kerja. So, he felt guilty if his good idea tak disampaikan kepada ketua yang baru. It is for the sake of the society.

Responsible ni macam dia buat sebab memang tanggungjawab dia sebagai ketua. Bila dah tak jadi ketua, dia boleh lepas tangan. However, accountable ni dia rasa amalan-amalan dia atau all the works he did will be accounted in his book of deeds. So, either he is still the leader or not, he will do the best.

Faham ke apa yang cuba saya sampaikan di sini?

As a muslim, we should instill the spirit of accountability in our daily works. We should realized yang setiap amalan kita akan di hisab. So, buat elok-elok bila kena buat sesuatu kerana ia akan dihisab.

“Maka barang siapa mengerjakan kebaikan seberat zarrah, nescaya Dia akan melihat (balasan)nya.”
(Al-Zalzalah)